Why are the Raptors trying to play uptempo?

I've always been a supporter of BC, BUT I it seems to me like he is messing with Casey's coaching style. Casey did a great job with what he had last season and brought respectability to the franchise, but this whole wanting to play "uptempo" style wreaks of the Phoenix/D'Antoni style which BC has been trying to implement since day one.

Screw the uptempo style and go with what was successful for us last season which was grinding out games with our defense in a half court set. I know that some will say that we had such a bad season last year that they would not describe anything as having been successful, but we made huge strides with our defense. The addition of talent will only help make the style we played with last season be more successful.

I just feel like Casey is now tasked with stearing the team away from what he knows best.

I'm not convinced it's Colangelo's decision. I'm sure he doesn't care how we win, as long as we win.

I think Casey's made a conscious effort to improve our 29th ranked offense by making use of his "athletes". Getting Lowry to push the ball, having DeRozan on the break, Valanciunas running the floor hard, and Fields (seemingly) knowing how to fill lanes....it all made sense that the Raptors would try and push the tempo this year.

Dwane Casey talked earlier in the week about the adjustment and about how he had given Lowry the freedom to make calls on offence on the break (pre-injury of course).

“The offence we’re running is more of a random type offence where it’s in flow, the push is more random … (the) hardest thing to do in the NBA is to guard random play so that’s why we try to be unpredictable.”

As far as the random offense goes, you can see it. Some of the guys dont have all the play calls yet. Last night Ed caught one in the post and you saw Casey and the guys say " no, that wasnt the play" and he apologized even though he got to the foul line and converted.

The offense WILL come. But its not the offense that is losing us games. That should be obvious to anyone watching.

I've always been a supporter of BC, BUT I it seems to me like he is messing with Casey's coaching style. Casey did a great job with what he had last season and brought respectability to the franchise, but this whole wanting to play "uptempo" style wreaks of the Phoenix/D'Antoni style which BC has been trying to implement since day one.

Screw the uptempo style and go with what was successful for us last season which was grinding out games with our defense in a half court set. I know that some will say that we had such a bad season last year that they would not describe anything as having been successful, but we made huge strides with our defense. The addition of talent will only help make the style we played with last season be more successful.

I just feel like Casey is now tasked with stearing the team away from what he knows best.

b/c all the new editions to the team and a lot of the returning players thrive in that situation. lowry,derozan,davis,valanciunas,ross, and especially shitty ass fields love that shit. bargnani and calderon not so much.

I don't think it has anything to do with BC, and casey just playing to our strengths.

If we play the right players we can still get stops, they are all athletic enough to get back on defense....

I just feel like Casey is now tasked with stearing the team away from what he knows best.

Lowry, Derozan and Fields are all better players at a faster pace. If you go back and look at Derozan's best games over his career, I am almost positive you will see a trend related to pace factor. Lowry is deadly in transition.

It's not their pace that's hurting them rather the fact that they can't make shots. They are shooting a collective 41%. That's just not good enough.

The bigger issue is defense. Opponents are shooting nearly 47% and 39% from 3PT land. If that keeps up, it won't matter what kind of offence they play.

yeah its pretty obvious that bargnani cant play in an up tempo offence. he needs to be spoon fed by calderon at a slower pace, him and lowry arent going to work well together. seems pretty obvious to me that even if he is playing better, he needs to come off the bench and see a majority of minutes with jose to be effective.

yeah its pretty obvious that bargnani cant play in an up tempo offence. he needs to be spoon fed by calderon at a slower pace, him and lowry arent going to work well together. seems pretty obvious to me that even if he is playing better, he needs to come off the bench and see a majority of minutes with jose to be effective.

no offence to you brother- if barg wants to get fed by calderon, we can certainly pack him up with jose so he can get spooon fed sumwhere else. not in T DOT. this nonsense needs to stop! its getting really ugly in here with BARG on the floor!

there def has to be a point were Bargs is shopped at least.. hes reached his peak IMO & its only down hill from here im sure..may as well get out now! no point spoon feeding him anymore.. id much prefer a traditional PF over a faceup guy any day...leave the perimeter play to the guards & wings...

Bargnani's job doesn't seem to be in the post anymore. It seems like he's going to play outside more, for the guards, the wings, and a big is running. When Bargnani is on the floor, it seems like he's there to hit the outside shot, or trail the play.

Offensively he's not bothering, for he is taking make-able Bargnani type shots, but he's so lazy and just doesn't use his legs, thus resulting in short shots.

Defensively is what's pissing me off. Someone needs to get on him, Coach Casey, what happened to holding guys accountable? I mean, benching may not be enough...

Bargnani's job doesn't seem to be in the post anymore. It seems like he's going to play outside more, for the guards, the wings, and a big is running. When Bargnani is on the floor, it seems like he's there to hit the outside shot, or trail the play.

Offensively he's not bothering, for he is taking make-able Bargnani type shots, but he's so lazy and just doesn't use his legs, thus resulting in short shots.

Defensively is what's pissing me off. Someone needs to get on him, Coach Casey, what happened to holding guys accountable? I mean, benching may not be enough...

I agree about him playing out by the 3pt line too much on offense, rather than in the post, especially early in games (he's at his best when he starts the game off by hitting his first few shots, so they should get him some easy in-close looks). I think the main reason they're playing him out there is to spread the floor for Lowry & DeRozan to penetrate in isolation, while Fields runs around and Valanciunas is down low for rebounds. The problem for the Raptors and the reason for Bargnani being used to spread the floor so much, is because he's the only real 3pt threat in the starting unit (the defense gives DeRozan & Fields open looks because they know they can't make a 3 to save their lives). A starting SF who can hit a 3 would allow Bargnani to play more down low, while still spreading the floor for penetration.

Defensively, the entire team has been crap and they all need to man up.

yeah its pretty obvious that bargnani cant play in an up tempo offence. he needs to be spoon fed by calderon at a slower pace, him and lowry arent going to work well together. seems pretty obvious to me that even if he is playing better, he needs to come off the bench and see a majority of minutes with jose to be effective.

Actually Barg's can be very effective in the up-tempo game as the trailing 3 point shooter. With 4 athletes running the floor, the defence will collapse to the hoop and Barg's can follow up as the trailer and hit the shot he is best designed for (spot up 3 from the top). I'd say that a conventional half-court game is where Barg's tends to get into trouble because he wont get as many open looks when the defence can focus on only 1 or 2 shooters on the floor.

I agree about him playing out by the 3pt line too much on offense, rather than in the post, especially early in games (he's at his best when he starts the game off by hitting his first few shots, so they should get him some easy in-close looks). I think the main reason they're playing him out there is to spread the floor for Lowry & DeRozan to penetrate in isolation, while Fields runs around and Valanciunas is down low for rebounds. The problem for the Raptors and the reason for Bargnani being used to spread the floor so much, is because he's the only real 3pt threat in the starting unit (the defense gives DeRozan & Fields open looks because they know they can't make a 3 to save their lives). A starting SF who can hit a 3 would allow Bargnani to play more down low, while still spreading the floor for penetration.

Defensively, the entire team has been crap and they all need to man up.

While I agree with the fundamentals of what you are saying I get the sense you are saying the team has asked him to play out in the perimetre and not post up down low. I've never know Andrea to gravitate to the post for any extended portion of a season. It could just be that I'm misinterpreting your post.

While I agree with the fundamentals of what you are saying I get the sense you are saying the team has asked him to play out in the perimetre and not post up down low. I've never know Andrea to gravitate to the post for any extended portion of a season. It could just be that I'm misinterpreting your post.

I expect that there's a combination of Casey's offensive gameplan calling for Bargnani to play outside (for the reasons I mentioned) and Bargnani just being lazy / falling in love with the outside shot. I just think he's at his best when he starts out games inside, as it lets him make a few easy shots to get his confidence up and it helps prevent him from settling for long jumpers (almost as if he, his teammates and coach all remember that he can be effective posting up). If he can get going from inside early, it also causes the opposing defense to focus more on him later on, once he does move outside, which only serves to further open up the court for penetration and slashing.

Another footnote is that the entire team is too outside shot happy, not just Bargnani.